Raf Simons Announced as Artistic Director of Dior

The luxury French fashion label Christian Dior has announced that designer Raf Simons has been hired as artistic director, says the New York Times. It has been more than a year since the brand fired it's previous head designer, John Galliano, after he was caught making anti-Semetic remarks. Since that time, many names have been mentioned for the job, including Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, Jason Wu, and Simons. When these rumors began surfacing, however, Simons was designing for Jil Sander. In an unexpected turn of events, Simons left the brand abruptly last month and its founder, Ms. Sander, will return to the clothing line she originally founded. Mr. Simons currently has his own eponymous menswear label, and his tenure at Dior is effective immediately. His first collection for the house will be shown during the fall/winter couture shows.